


Hits You Hard

by Kereea



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Comedy, Crushes, Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, Zeb's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 16:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10700886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: A spar gone slightly out of hand makes Zeb confront how he feels about Kallus. However the facts that present themselves aren’t always the helpful ones…





	Hits You Hard

 

 Fact: Hera was going to kill them.

 Zeb leaned back, putting some more weight on his hands, and looked up through the tree canopy as he tried to catch his breath.

 They’d gone overboard. He knew it, Kallus knew it, and anyone who saw them was going to know it.

 The _Ghost_ crew had plenty of missions after losing Chopper Base, but Kallus had to stay on Yavin for debriefing. Zen and Ezra had both assumed that would take, what, a few days, and then Kallus would have to figure out what to do with himself and Zeb would help and Ezra would mess with him and whatever. 

  Kallus, Kanan, and Hera had all given them uneasy looks and Kallus had coughed something about it probably taking longer.

 So far they were at over three weeks.

 Zeb hadn’t been happy the first time they’d come back from a mission and he’d found Kallus. The guy looked wrung out. Kallus insisted that no one was harming him or mistreating him—Zeb called liar on the second one, if not to Kallus’ face; he knew a lot of the other Rebels were iffy around the ex-ISB so while they might not spit in his face they certainly weren’t treating him _well_ —and that it was just exhausting dredging up every little thing imaginable.

 “They’ve, ah, never had an ISB defect before. To say nothing about how highly ranked I was,” Kallus had muttered. That was when Zeb had realized it was going to take a while. A long while.

Hence: sparring. It helped Kallus get his tension out, gave him something to do, and let Zeb fight one of the only people on this rock who could give him a run for his money. Kallus really wasn’t allowed to be armed but simple collapsing metal staffs weren’t so much a threat and no one had complained yet. Zeb had to use one too since his rifle would be an unfair advantage even if they both knew Kallus had beaten a rifle-wielding lasat before without one of his own. That was different anyway. This was supposed to be friendly.

 Today, unlike the other times, hadn’t been.

 Kallus had already been edgy and his blows had definitely carried the extra weight. Zeb hadn’t taken too much advantage at first—Kallus clearly needed the outlet and Zeb didn’t want the fight to end too soon—but he’d gotten overly amused at Kal being a bit sloppy and yanked his hair as a joke.

 Next thing Zeb knew, Kallus had grabbed his left ear and _karabast_ had that tug hurt, blunt fingernails digging into his skin as his whole head was jerked to the side. And...well then it got really out of hand. They’d gone totally weaponless and just brawled on the ground. Zeb had used his claws more than he should have, and it was a good thing Kallus had taken his jacket off before the fight since now he didn’t have much of a shirt. Kallus, meanwhile, had bitten Zeb’s arm when Zeb had almost gotten him pinned and at one point sucker punched him in the kriffing throat. Hadn’t stopped them, though. They went until they both just fell apart and needed to breathe.

 For the record, Zeb had been winning.

 Fact: Kallus was laughing.

 It wasn’t a pleasant sound. Actually at first Zeb had thought he was crying.

 “You…you all right there, Kal?” His voice sounded like shit thanks to that throat punch. He was worried. Usually this seemed to make Kallus feel better…

 “Don’t know,” Kallus sighed. “Fairly certain I don’t look it.”

 Zeb nodded. Kallus had a split lip, a bruise on his cheek from Zeb kneeing him in the face, and some of the scrapes on his torso were definitely bleeding, “Sorry. Shouldn’t have started shit by pulling your hair.”

 “I overreacted. Sorry for grabbing your ear like that.”

 “Yeah, dirty pool, Kal,” Zeb teased, only to cringe as Kallus slumped a bit. “…You know I’m just having some fun with you, right? I’m not mad.”

 “I…of course,” Kallus said. “I’m sorry. I’m just…tired.”

 “Yeah. Yeah guess you looked more tired than usual this time. They running you ragged?”

 “Hardly. I think they’re almost done,” Kallus said. “Just…trouble sleeping, mostly.”

 “They make stuff for that, you know,” Zeb said.

 Kallus hummed in a way that Zeb took to mean as “yes but I won’t take any” either because Kallus was an idiot and trying to tough it out or Kallus was nervous about asking people he didn’t know for medicine.

 Actually Zeb could sort of see the logic in the second one. Kallus was a paranoid guy about…almost everything, still coming down from being around Thrawn and having to hide things from a guy that clever. Add in that…well, yeah, he probably didn’t feel entirely safe here and…yeah…

 Zeb briefly clenched his fists and feet. He knew it wasn’t in Kal’s nature to relax or be comfortable, but karabast he just wanted…he wanted…

 He wanted Kallus to be okay. He wanted to…to fight beside him and talk with him and…

Zeb glanced at Kallus. He wasn’t laughing anymore and was using a nearby tree to brace himself in order to stand. Once he was up Kallus started trying to comb his hair back behind his hears with his fingers but a lot of strands wouldn’t stay put and hung in his face.

 “Need a hand?” Kallus asked.

 “Nah, I’m good,” Zeb said, getting to his feet. “Need to get back and patch ourselves up.”

 Kallus smiled and nodded and—oh.

 Oh.

 Fact: Zeb only just realized what he wanted from Kallus.

 And that was terrifying.

 Because if he wanted what he thought he wanted…well first off, Zeb had no idea how humans did relationships. Kanan was a Jedi and thus weird even by human standards, so his thing with Hera was probably not the best example. Ezra was a kid so his crushes told Zeb nothing. Sabine was private about that sort of thing even when she was around so Zeb yet again had nothing.

 And that still left out personal preference issues like ‘what does Kal like?’ on top of everything.

 “Are you all right, Garazeb?”

 “Huh?” Zeb asked. Kallus had stopped walking and was frowning at him. “Just thinking.”

 “A dangerous pastime,” Kallus chuckled, but he let it go and started walking again.

 It was hard to figure out feelings for an ex-intelligence offer when you were around them. Kallus was an obsessive guy when he got even the slightest hint something was up. Zeb had to rely on the hope that Kallus was too tired to pay attention, which normally wouldn’t be a thing but Kallus was clearly worn to the bone here.

 Okay. He liked Kallus. He _really_ liked Kallus. What did he do with that?

 Well there was the obvious option of fessing up which…well, could go well or badly. Zeb wasn’t sure Kallus was in a place to handle that kind of thing right now, though. Maybe when he wasn’t emotionally exhausted over being debriefed for everything he’d ever known it might be better…

 Yeah. That sounded good. Wait til Kal was better, then fess up fast, like pulling off a bacta strip. If it went well, great, they’d figure it out, and if it didn’t then Zeb knew to sort it out himself instead of meandering about wondering. Good plan.

 “So...patch up at the bases’ medical bay or your ship?” Kallus asked once they reached the clearing near the old temple the base was being built in.

 Hmm. Both had risks. Ship was more likely to run into Hera, but medical bay would be seen by more people who would tell Hera…and probably assume the worst of Kallus, given their states and Kallus’ current status. Zeb nodded definitively, “Ship.”

 “All right then,” Kallus said. His bad leg was starting to drag a bit so Zeb offered him an arm. Kallus took it gratefully, “Thank you.”

 “Thank me if we get out of this without Hera grounding us for a week.”

 “…How would she…do that?” Kallus asked.

 “She has her ways,” Zeb muttered. He’d rather face off against Vader than an angry Hera Syndulla. At least Vader would be quick…

 The Ghost wasn’t too far, thankfully. Less thankfully, they ran into Ezra on the ramp.

 “What the heck happened to you guys?” Ezra asked, bug eyed. “Find the local apex predator?”

 “Very funny, Ezra,” Zeb huffed as Kallus looked embarrassed.

 Fact: Ezra was a loudmouth who was going to tell Hera as soon as Zeb let him out of his sight.

 So he’d have to keep Ezra close, then, until he and Kal were patched up and Hera didn’t have to worry so much.  “Look, just give us a hand, all right?”

 Kallus looked like he wanted to protest Ezra getting involved but Zeb dragged him onboard before he said anything.

 “So seriously, what happened? Don’t tell me you two did that,” Ezra said, looking them up and down once they reached the medical station.

 “We fell down a hill,” Zeb lied. Kallus thankfully had the sense to keep a straight face and give nothing away. Huh. Having a crush on a spy had some perks; they didn’t let others know when you were lying.

 “…Sure,” Ezra said.

 Zeb cuffed him, “No prying around with the Force. Be a good Jedi.”

 Ezra scowled at him but handed over the bacta. “Yeah, I don’t need the Force to know you don’t lose a shirt falling down a hill.”

 Zeb growled at him. Kallus huffed and grabbed the bacta. “Let me see your ear.”

 “Fine,” Zeb said, leaning down a bit to let him

 “Still right here,” Ezra said.

 “Still can see you,” Zeb shot back. Kallus tutted softly at them as he finished wrapping Zeb’s ear.

 “Jeez, what it with you?” Ezra asked. “I mean you’re acting all…huh…”

 Karabast. Jedi, Force-user, _emotion reader_. Zeb glared at him. Ezra held up his hands in surrender.

 “‘Huh’ what?” Kallus asked suspiciously.

 See? Spy. Nothing you could do except hope he didn’t know your tells. Since he’d been hunting them for a while, he knew their tells. Especially Ezra’s.

 “Just huh. Just huh,” Ezra said, grinning like the little shit he was. Zeb briefly bared his teeth, making that little grin falter. Good. If Ezra gave this away…

 “I don’t believe you,” Kallus said, going to work on his own wounds.

 “That’s on you, Agent,” Ezra said. Kallus snorted but seemed to be willfully ignoring him. Zeb sighed in relief and started patching the rest of himself up. When Kallus wasn’t looking Ezra made a rather extreme confused expression before jerking his head at Kallus twice. Zeb growled at him—was none of his business.

 “Stop bothering each other. I swear you act like children,” Kallus muttered. “How poor Captain Syndulla puts up with you both…”

 “Poor _Hera_? Yeah right, don’t let her hear you pitying her,” Ezra said.

 “As someone who’s had ridiculous subordinates myself it’s really more sympathy,” Kallus said, chuckling. The small smile on his face made Zeb’s stomach jerk.

 Oh yeah, he had it bad. Ezra shot him a scandalized look. Zeb shook his head at him.

 “All right, that’s it, what is going on?” Kallus snapped.

 Fact: Kallus was a paranoid guy and given how wrung out he seemed this morning he was probably even more so than usual.

 So Zeb was going to have to lie really, _really_ well. “Just making sure he doesn’t go running to Hera.”

 And…glare. Been a while since Kallus gave Zeb one of those. It kind of made him cringe a bit, being on the receiving end again. He didn’t like it.

 “Do you really think you can lie to me?” Kallus asked, straightening his back. It still left him shorter than Zeb but by a much smaller margin.

 “Oh he’s not lying. See ya!” Ezra said, taking off.

 Karabast. This was not his day. “Get back here you little—oof!”

 Fact: Kallus just tripped him.

 Just his luck. Falling for a spy _and_ a jerk. “He’s going to get away!”

 “I noticed,” Kallus said dryly. “Now, again, what is going on?”

 Hesitating would only make things worse so Zeb blurted out the first thing he could think of, “I’m just worried about you!”

 Kallus looked surprised. “What?”

 “I’m…worried about you.” It was true, after all. Just not the thing he and Ezra had been silently arguing about. “You seemed really out of it this morning and then…well…”

 “I lost control during the fight,” Kallus said softly. He hung his head, hair hiding his eyes. “I know, and I’m sorry-”

 “Hey, I shouldn’t have grabbed your hair like that,” Zeb said quickly. “Was a bad idea with how edgy you already were.”

 “Well I still apologize,” Kallus said. He looked back up at least, brushing his hair out of his face with a mildly irritated glance at it.

 “So…was the last round of chats bad or something?” Zeb asked.

 “I don’t want to talk about it,” Kallus said.

  “Fine then,” Zeb muttered. “…So you almost done, at least?”

 “I hope so. They’re just asking old questions again to make sure I give the same answers. Fairly standard procedure,” Kallus said. “If…aggravating.”

 “Huh. Well if they’re on repeat it must be winding down, right?” Zeb asked.

 “Again, I hope so,” Kallus said. “Look, you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

 “But you’re not fine right now,” Zeb said. Kallus shot him another glare, this one coupled with a scowl.

 “I _know that_ , thank you,” Kallus said. “It’s just a bad day, Garazeb.”

 “It’s been a bad few _weeks_ and it looks like it’s getting worse,” Zeb said, willing himself not to get distracted by liking how Kallus said his name.  

 “Well there’s nothing either of us can do to help so drop it!” Kallus snapped.

 They both stared at each other and Kallus pretty quickly switched from irritated to almost-horrified. He groaned and leaned on the wall, putting a hand to his face. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

 “Yeah, well, I’m sorry too,” Zeb said. “Thought the sparring was helping. Guess this was a bad day for it.” He rubbed the back of his head, “You, uh…have something else in mind we could do?”

 Kallus shrugged and rubbed his arm. Great. Zeb was going to have to figure this out on his own then…

 “What did you two _do_?”

 Or Hera would kill them first. That could happen.

 Hera stormed into the medical bay with a look for furious shock on her face. She looked them up and down, taking in the copious amount of bacta, the cool packs, and Kallus’ shredded shirt.  “What is wrong with you two?”

 Fact: One had to cooperate with an angry Hera if one wished to get out alive.

 “It’s my fault,” Zeb said. “We were sparring and I grabbed his hair.”

 “And then I grabbed his ear,” Kallus admitted dully. “It’s a…little hazy after that…”

 “Uh…huh,” Hera said. “You have got to be kidding me…what were you _thinking_?”

 “I don’t think there was much thinking involved, honestly,” Kallus admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

 “Clearly,” Hera said. “Just…I can’t believe it. When Ezra said Kallus barely had a shirt I thought he was _joking_.”

 “Claws,” Zeb muttered weakly.

 “Why?” Hera asked.

 “Karabast, I don’t know it just…got out of hand,” Zeb said. “Was a bad time to spar.”

“I see,” Hera said. “Let me look. If I can’t trust you two to fight each other correctly I can’t trust you to bandage yourselves either.”

 Kallus ended up being first because Zeb pushed him forward. She inspected his torso toughly. Luckily Zeb had only scratched him hard enough to break sin with one pass, with the rest he'd just caught his claws in the shirt and shredded it. So that just left some bruises from punching and such.

 On the other hand Kallus bruised very, very visibly so that wasn’t the best thing either. Human skin was too good at showing injuries sometimes. Hera taped some more cool pacs to his side before declaring the rest adequate.

 Then she turned to Zeb.

 Zeb swallowed nervously.

 Hera proceeded to prod him everywhere since unlike Kallus he had fur that hid bruises. It was unpleasant. She also un-bandaged and then re-bandaged his ear and arm.

 “You two need to not do this again. I know it was an accident but we don’t need to be using medical supplies on two grown men having an argument,” Hera said. “Am I clear?”

 “Yes Hera,” Zeb sighed as Kallus said, “Understood.”

 “Good,” Hera said.

 “Hey, coming in.”

 They turned to see Kanan, Chopper on his heels.

 “I got that report you wanted Hera,” he said, handing her a datapad.

 “The…oh that one, from this morning,” she said quickly as she took it. “Yes, thank you.”

 “So why does everyone in here feel uncomfortable?” Kanan asked slowly.

 “Kallus and Zeb beat each other up,” Hera said. Chopper beeped out a laugh. Zeb tried to kick him and only just pulled his leg back before he got shocked.

 Kallus cringed.

 Fact: Kanan was a Jedi and clearly knew something was up with Kallus given the fact that he was staring at him pretty intently for not being able to see him.

 “…So are you two having a fight or what?” Kanan asked.

 “It was an accident,” Zeb said.

 “We’re fine,” Kallus added.

 “Sure you are,” Kanan said disbelievingly.

 Zeb did not need to feel like he was a kid getting scolded by his parents right now. Kallus looked like he agreed.

 Kanan and Hera turned towards each other. Kanan nodded after a moment and then waved at Kallus, “Come on, let’s talk.”

 “Let’s…not,” Kallus said.

 “Come on. I think I know what this is about…or we could talk here,” Kanan said.

 Zeb didn’t miss Kanan nodding briefly at him and how that only seemed to sour Kallus’ mood. 

 “I thought Jedi were honorable,” Kallus muttered as he pushed himself off the wall.

 “Kallus, let’s just say I’ve been where you are, in some ways, emotionally,” Kanan said gently. Chopper helped him out of the ship, a reluctant Kallus following.

 Fact: Zeb was moderately offended that Kallus did not want to talk in front of him.

  “Don’t worry. Kanan’s good at this kind of thing,” Hera said. “Both the ‘getting people to talk’ part and the ‘knowing how that feels’ part.”

 “I hope so,” Zeb said.

 “…So, when did you finally figure it out?” Hera asked.

 Zeb frowned, “What, that Kal’s off? He’s _been_ off, it’s just gotten-”

 “That you have feelings for him,” Hera said.

 “Uh…just after this last fight,” Zeb admitted because lying to Hera was always a bad idea.

  Her eyes widened slightly. “Wow. Well…good for realizing. Finally.”

 “Pot, kettle.”

 “Kanan and I know how we feel about each other, thank you,” she said. “We’ve just got a lot of other things to deal with right now. You two meanwhile…”

 Zeb knew his ears had perked up at that. Was Hera suggesting…well, again, even if Kal liked him back, best not to make any moves while the guy was such a mess. “Yeah well he’s got a lot on his plate right now too. Karabast, when are they going to be done?”

 “Well maybe what Kanan gave me will tell us,” Hera said, picking the datapad back up. “Yes, it should. This is a list of everything Kallus has been debriefed on, probably to ask us if we have any suggestions for he can be done…oh.”

 “What oh?” Zeb asked. She passed him the pad. Everything looked normal, chats every other day like they usually did with non-critical matters…he grimaced as Lasan came up pretty early on…karabast.

 “Why are they making him talk about it _again_?” he demanded. According to this Kallus’ last three sessions had been dominated by talking about Lasan, _again_.

 “I don’t know,” Hera said. “…Answer contradicts initial rebel report…oh no.”

 “What?” Zeb asked.

 “When you first fought him ages ago. When he _lied_ ,” Hera said, eyes wide. “We _reported_ that lie!”

 Zeb groaned. Of course it would have come up in Hera’s report that Kallus had claimed to be the one in charge off the ion disruptors. “He was just trying to get a rise out of me! If I’d been in my right mind I’d have realized he was nowhere _near_ high-ranked enough to give that kind of order!”

 “But we didn’t know and since he gave contradictory info on something they’ve been grilling him to be extra-sure, urgh,” Hera groaned. “I’ll sort this out. No wonder he looked like hell this morning…”

 Zeb nodded in agreement. As far as he was concerned for the two of them Lasan was in the past; Kallus was making up for it now. He knew Kallus would _not_ take well to having to constantly re-tell it. Zeb sure as space wouldn’t. He didn’t like talking about it even under less stressful circumstances than interrogation.

 “Zeb, I’ll sort this out,” Hera repeated, getting his attention back on her. “Look, when Kanan’s done, you keep Kallus with you, okay?”

 “Why?”

 “He looks a bit skinny, make him eat something,” Hera said. “Also it’ll keep you from hunting down the people he’s been talking to and punching them.”

 Fact: Zeb wanted to punch them very much so Hera was still a mind-reader.

“Fine,” he said. Maybe he could get Chopper to do something. Chopper weirdly liked Kallus. Zeb assumed it was because Kal still called Ezra “Jabba” from time to time. “Maybe try and get him to sleep some, too…”

 “Bring him back here for that,” Hera said. “He needs to get used to the ship anyway.”

 Zeb nodded. They’d been planning to take Kallus with them after he was cleared. Mostly since they were shorthanded without Sabine and the kind of break-ins they’d been doing lately could use his ex-Imperial knowhow.

 Fact: Also Zeb kind of just wanted Kallus around.

 “Hey, don’t look so nervous,” Hera said. “Come on, Zeb. It’ll be fine.”

 “I hope so,” Zeb said. “Think we’ve given them enough time?”

 “I suppose so,” Hera said. “I’ll go talk to intel about this, explain that we know where the discrepancy came from.”

 He looked around after existing the ship. Chopper, Kallus, and Kanan were sitting on a log a little ways off. He kept an eye on them but took his time heading over.

 Kallus looked up when he got close, “Let me guess: Hera told you.”

Zeb winced as Kanan smothered a startled laugh. Zeb sighed “Always were quick on the uptake, Kal.”

 Kanan got up to leave and waved for Chopper to follow him. Zeb sank down onto the log next to Kallus, “You could have told me.”

 “I thought it was fairly clear you didn’t want to talk about that,” Kallus said.

 “That’s not the same thing as us having to hash it but and you know it,” Zeb said. “I want to know when something’s hurting you.”

 And that was one hell of a confession in and of itself. Ashala only knew if humans picked up on that kind of thing even sharp ones like Kallus.

 “It wasn’t…I mean…I could endure it,” Kallus said stubbornly.

 “You don’t have to _endure_ Kallus. We’re your friends,” Zeb said.

 “You’re my friend,” Kallus corrected. “And the rest of your crew are also my friends according to their own insistences. _That_ is the extent of my friends. The people I have been talking to are not my friends and we both know it.”

 “Hera’s going to sort it,” Zeb said. “So hopefully this’ll be the last day you have to talk about it.”

 Kallus seemed to mentally war over that for a moment before he seemed to let go fo his pride and smiled, “Thank you, then.”

 Fact: Kallus looked really, really good when he smiled.

 Karabast, Zeb wasn’t going to figure anything out by thinking like that…of course the late afternoon sun favored the idiot he had feelings for. Made his hair look really bright anyway. “Feeling less sore?”

 “Ice, bacta, and painkillers tend to be good for that,” Kallus said. “You?”

 His ear was still a bit sore but otherwise he was good. “Just fine, Kal. Come on, let’s get something to eat. Missed lunch with our fight and the patch-up.”

 Kallus nodded, “I suppose that’s a good idea.”

 “Great,” Zeb said, getting to his feet and offering Kallus a hand. “Er, might want to close the jacket, though.”

 “Good point,” Kallus said, doing so before he took Zeb’s hand. Zeb wanted to keep holding it but still let go once Kallus was up. He tossed an arm around Kallus’ shoulders instead, telling himself that it wasn’t all having a crush on the guy; that Hera had said to make sure Kallus ate and this made herding him easier.

 “So, you want to hear about our last mission?” he asked.

 “You mean do I want to hear how things went horribly wrong and your crew pulled out a miracle to get out alive?” Kallus asked, smirking.

 Well that was more like it! Zeb pretended to be very offended, “I will have you know things only went _moderately_ wrong and the only miracle we pulled off was Ezra and me securing the supplies _while_ Hera was flying in a dogfight.”

 Kallus winced, “Oh; that does sound difficult. What went flying?”

 “Plenty of containers. Ezra was using the Force to avoid them and steer them and I was just moving to whatever was currently the ground to try and tie them down,” Zeb said. “Chopper finally made it easier on us by turning off the gravity inside the ship. Hera barely noticed since she was belted in, but Kanan got a little nervous not having a clear sense of motion…”

 “That sounds terrible,” Kallus said.

 “Yeah, Chopper had to apologize for not warning him,” Zeb said.

 “Well that was nice of him, at any rate,” Kallus said.

 “Feh, nice. Chopper’s never nice to anyone but Hera. And don’t say he’s nice to you, he just wants your guard down for when he finally pranks you,” Zeb said.

 Kallus scoffed, “As if I’d ever let my guard down around your droid. I know fully well what he’s capable of.”

 Zeb blinked. Kallus was perfectly relaxed around Chopper. “Are you kidding? You act like you think he’s the most useful person you know!”

 “He _is_ one of the most useful people I know,” Kallus said. “And I do genuinely respect his abilities; for being just one astromech he’s very multifunctional. And if that means sometimes I play to his ego, well, when he’s in a good mood he’s less likely to cause me any grief. You and Ezra, meanwhile, mess with him enough to stay firmly in the targeted area.”

 “You’ve been playing Chopper,” Zeb said, stunned, as they reached the old temple the mess hall was in. “You’ve been playing Chopper this whole time by acting like you don’t know how much of a brat he is.”

 “Because if I play along, he thinks he should keep the act up until the perfect moment to mess with me. If I make sure there never is one, I’m safe,” Kallus said.

 “That’s genius!” Zeb admitted.

 Kallus smirked again, “Well it wouldn’t work for _you_. He already knows you don’t much care for him. But I can probably get away with it for a while yet.”

 Fact: This was at least one reason why he liked Kallus.

 The man was kriffing _smart_ and did some pretty impressive planning when he kept his head cool. Tricking Chopper was no mean feat, keeping it up for _this long_ was nothing short of amazing.

 “You’re brilliant, Kal. You know that?” Zeb said.

  Oh the look on his face. Kallus was pretty expressive when he felt like being open and this must have been one of those times. His eyes went wide and blinked rapidly for a moment before he chuckled softly and looked away. “Thank you, Garazeb.”

 Zeb wondered if he was imagining the slight redness to Kallus’ cheeks…or if it was sunburn. Hard to tell with someone that pale who’d been out in the sun…

 It wasn’t hard to find an empty table, being between lunch and dinner for most species that kept to a three-meal schedule. The Ghost crew had always eaten more sporadically beyond breakfast debriefings and planning, so Zeb was used to the peace and quiet.

 He’d kept an eye out as Kallus got his food. Thankfully the man had grabbed a decent amount of soup and some rolls. “Hungry?”

 “Forgot breakfast,” Kallus admitted.

 “You tried to fight me on an empty stomach? For shame,” Zeb teased.

 “I ate something before you showed up. I just didn’t have a full breakfast,” Kallus said.

 “Well you’ll be getting one once you’re with us. Only meal we usually all eat at the same time—Hera uses it for crew meetings,” Zeb said. “Sabine actually rigged up this great space waffle maker…sure we don’t always have the right ingredients for it but we’ve come up with some good substitutes…”

 “Of course you have,” Kallus said. “…Ah, with you?”

 “The crew,” Zeb said. “Hera’s made it pretty clear to command that’s where she wants you going after they’re done, which they’d better be soon. We’re still a hand short and Rex is having too much fun being a new drill instructor to come with us.”

 “You…you wanted me on your crew?” Kallus asked.

 “Where else would we want you?” Zeb demanded before realizing Kallus probably had an answer.

 “Possibly very far away,” Kallus admitted.

 “Yeah, no. You’re stuck with us, Kal.”

 “I…thank you,” Kallus said, smiling.

 “Hey, you’re the one who admitted we’re friends,” Zeb said, smirking. “You’re never getting out of that.”

 “Why would I want to? Besides your being a reckless fool, anyway?” Kallus asked.

 Zeb grinned as they kept talking. This was more like it. Kallus not all on edge and snapping. That made it much easier to figure this while attraction thing out.

 Like he’d already noted, Kallus was smart. He was also strong and did what he thought was right, both of which were deeply attractive traits if you asked Zeb.

 He was good looking too, not even just as humans went but in general. Nice facial hair, bright eyes, strong build…yeah Kallus was attractive.

Fact: Okay, Zeb was definitely into him. Very, very definitely into him.

 The conversation had steered into a crituqe of other cells they’d seen around the base. Kallus was relating how one group of Mon Calamari kept getting shunted between two different admirals to the point where it seemed no one knew who they actually worked for anymore when Chopper came wheeling in.

 “Thought you hated the mess hall,” Zeb said as Chopper held out a pad.

 Chopper beeped out that he certainly wouldn’t have come if it was just for Zeb. Kallus snickered, making Chopper toot in amusement that Kallus had gotten the joke. Chopper proceeded to go on a long monologue about how the mess hall had terrible everything while Zeb read the information on the pad.

 He chuckled. Looked like Hera and Kanan had chatted with the right people. “Your debriefing days are over.”

 Kallus looked stunned, “How?”

 Zeb sighed, “They were still asking you about Lasan because they thought you were lying.”

 “Well, obviously, I’m not sure about what,” Kallus said.

 “Because when you lied to me about it way back when we reported that lie,” Zeb said.

  Kallus groaned, resting his head on his arms. “You have got to be kidding.”

  “No.”

 “Well…that brings back memories…” Kallus said.

 “Bit less damaging a fight that today,” Zeb said.

 Chopper agreed, beeping that they both looked like shit, then clarifying that he meant more than usual. Kallus started laughing so Zeb decided the droid could have that one.

 They got up to head back to the Ghost. Zeb eyed Kallus’ hair as it caught the afternoon sun.

 “You know, your hair really does look good a bit longer,” he commented.

 “Ah, thank you,” Kallus said. “I’ve been a bit worried it may get in the way in a fight…”

 “Eh, let it get a little longer and then just ask Kanan for a spare tie. He won’t mind,” Zeb said, tucking a bit behind Kallus’s ear.

 Fact: He just did that.

 Karabast.

 Fact: Kallus was…blushing?

 Fact: Yes, Kallus was blushing.  

 “I…ah…” Zeb said. Okay, Kallus didn’t seem so on edge any more so time to get it over with. Like tugging off a bacta strip. “I sort of…err…”

 Chopper huffed and rammed into Zeb’s legs, sending him into Kallus and them both to the ground.

 “You were saying?” Kallus asked, amused.

 “Tell you after I dent the droid,” Zeb growled, getting to his feet.

 “I see,” Kallus said before kicking his legs out from under him.

 “Stop letting people get away from me today!” Zeb complained as he went down again and Chopper wheeled off, beep-laughing the whole way. “You’re lucky I like you!”

 Kallus grinned. “For the record, I like you too.”

 Now that was more like it. “We’ll talk about this once I’m done with Chopper,” Zeb decided.

 “I suppose we will need to talk,” Kallus agreed.

 “Yeah. Uh…I want to kiss you now,” Zeb admitted.

 “I think you could get away with that,” Kallus said as they stood. “Thank you for making a bad day turn out much better.”

 The kiss was nice. Okay, clearly they were both figuring out the height and nose differences but otherwise it was nice. Zeb grinned, lightly resting his forehead against Kallus’. “Don’t thank me yet. Now you get to put up with Ezra on a daily basis.”

 “I can handle Jabba,” Kallus scoffed.

 “So…when did you figure it out?”

 “That I had feelings for you? Ages ago,” Kallus said.

 “Huh. I only figured it out after the fight.”

 Kallus stared at him, “What about that could have possibly made you figure it out?”

 “Realized you were hurting and I wanted more than anytthng for that not to keep being the case. Rest followed from that, I guess.”

 “That’s…very sweet of you,” Kallus said. “…Hera and Kanan figured us both out, you know.”

 “Oh yeah. She said you liked me back.”

 “And Kanan would not stop prodding me to fess up,” Kallus said. “Meddling Jedi.”

 “You know, that’s what Ezra figured out too,” Zeb added.

 “I did wonder…you get revenge on Chopper, I’m going to take Jabba to task for his atrocious ability at trying to be subtle. Could get him killed one day, really,” Kallus said.

 “You’re just ding him a favor,” Zeb agreed.

 “Absolutely. Got to get off on the fight foot with a new crewmate,” Kallus said, smirking.

 Zeb grinned, “Kal, trust me. You’re going to fit in just fine.”

 He wrapped an arm around Kallus’ shoulders and they went back to the ship together.

 Fact: If Zeb had anything to say about it, it was going to stay that way.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Chopper ships it as a way to distract and/or mess with Zeb.
> 
> Hope you liked it! Read and review!


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